40 
GUIDE TO THE 
or Capitonidae, among them the well-known “ Copper- 
smith,” Xantholaema indica of India, are also repre- 
sented. 
Bird Case VIII. 
contains the Pigeons, Sandgrouse, Partridges, Francolins, 
and Quails. 
The Pigeons are a very large family, spread 
practically all over the world, and often of very 
gay colours. In Great Britain we have, putting 
aside the numerous races of the Domestic Pigeon, the 
large Wood-Pigeon (^Columba palumbus), the Stock- 
Dove (G. oenas), the Rock-Dove ((7. livia), and the 
pretty little Turtle-Dove {Turtur turtur). The Sand- 
grouse forms a link between the Pigeons and the 
Game Birds. Among the generally very beautiful 
Sandgrouse is Pallas’s Sandgrouse, Syrrhaptes para- 
doxus, best known to the British public on account of 
its occasional extraordinary wanderings over Europe. 
This bird inhabits the sandy steppes of Inner Asia, 
but now and then leaves its desert home in enormous 
numbers, invading not only Central Europe, but 
spreading, though not in numbers, as far north as 
Norway and as far south as Spain ; while England 
has, in 1859, 1863, 1864, 1872, 1876, and 1889, been 
visited by great numbers, one unfortunate bird even 
wandering as far as the outer Hebrides. These irrup- 
tions are comparable with those of the Lemming, and, 
like the Lemmings, which perish to the last, the 
